“People think when they come to court that they are going to get instant relief,” said Judge Rebecca Dallet of the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. “We can give what the law allows, but we have no way of getting the money for them. I don’t think people realize that.”

Pam had a Bloomingdale’s gift card that went unused for a couple of years, and when she tried to spend it last weekend, she was told it had expired. Pam found a way to get the balance restored fairly quickly, though. If you’ve got a card from before February 2008, try Pam’s advice below.

Chanda signed up for a month-to-month membership at a Bally Total Fitness in Montclair, California, but when things went wrong—as they frequently do with this company—Chanda found himself signed up for a 3-year agreement. Their proof? An unsigned contract that doesn’t look like the one he was given.

An anonymous tipster sent us the following information today on how to reach the executive level at CVS. Remember, don’t use this to be a jerk to anyone—use it when you have a valid complaint that you can’t get resolved through the recommended paths.

Yesterday we noted that Qwest has done away with their “email us” option on their contact page, and in a comical example of corporate doublespeak they’d printed, “Your questions and concerns are very important to us, however we are no longer able to respond to email.” Today it looks like Qwest has changed that pop-up window to provide a little more information.

There’s not a lot of contact info on the web for Greyhound or its executives, but one determined customer has put a lot of effort into documenting what there is. Here are mailing addresses and a few unpublished phone numbers for people in the Greyhound executive offices.

It appears that classiccloseouts.com has decided that they could get a nice revenue boost by going back through their files and giving all their past customers a nice new charge on their credit cards. Of course, they don’t answer their phones, their voicemail is full, and there’s no notice of the charge.